Beautiful and magical story of a family of witches. This companion book revisiting the characters of Practical Magic and explores the idea of curses, family, love and fates. I enjoyed how the distinction of voices in the characters was a way to move the story along. Some transitions were a bit confusing but I could determine the plot. If I went back a page then I could remember who was the current narrator. That said, I enjoyed the mystery of how they would break the curse and the ultimate theme of love triumphs over evil.

As much as it pains me to say, this was my least favorite of the Practical Magic series. While I appreciated the elements dealing with motherhood and sisterhood, I was expecting more for the conclusion to a series I held beloved. Still I am glad I read it and got closure!

The Practical Magic series is beloved and this is a wonderful conclusion. Reading these stories is truly magic, and I look forward to revisiting these characters and the entire series each fall.

Good conclusion to the Practical Magic series by Alice Hoffman. If you're familiar with Jet and Franny from Rules of Magic I think you will enjoy reading this. Fun set of books to read in the fall. I've always enjoyed Alice Hoffman books and this one was no exception.

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review. All opinions are my own.

Published 12 October 2021,

These books are pure magic! Excellent tie together of the 3, more history to the mysteries, fabulously written.

A wonderfully fitting end to one of my favorite series! It makes me want to revisit all of the "Practical Magic" books.

I’m so happy to have both listened to and read this, last book?, of this series as it just wrapped all the history and characters up into a lovely witchy ball of happy! I still love watching the movie Practical Magic and this book just makes me look at their futures with so much more interest.
Really love all the librarian references and all the history this story has added and prompted further research of my own!
Thank you for such a fun and fantastic series and I would be over the moon if they ever wanted to make another movie because this book would totally fill that void.

Thank you NetGalley for giving me a chance at an ARC and I’m sorry I missed it and had to wait so long to get to it!

THE BOOK OF MAGIC – by Alice Hoffman

‘What would you do for the one you loved? Would you place yourself in exile, see wrong as right, forsake all others, do what you must?’

‘A bargain was a bargain, and you always paid a price.’

I enjoyed reading THE BOOK OF MAGIC, Book Two in the Practical Magic series; though I have read MAGIC LESSONS Book #0.1, I have yet to read THE RULES OF MAGIC #0.2 (Up Next/Audiobook/Library) and PRACTICAL MAGIC Book 1.

THE BOOK OF MAGIC can be easily read as a standalone, as it, in what I’m guessing, is a recap of the events in the previous books, which too accounts for much of the slow burn.

The drive for me, as I made my way through the narrative, was the incessant pull of my heartstrings by the characters that never let up—and by stories end—My Heart!

Recommend!

Thank you, NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Publishing, for providing me with an eBook of THE BOOK OF MAGIC at the request of an honest review.

The Book of Magic is author Alice Hoffman's last entry in the series that started with Practical Magic. Like her first book, it follows the Owens family and the curse that follows their quest to find true love. It's enchantingly witchy and delightful. Highly recommended.

A truly enchanting novel and perfect for an autumn evening of reading. A must-read for all Practical Magic fans as we get reintroduced to previous characters. Hoffman's writing is so beautiful and haunting. A great conclusion to the Owen's family story.

Utterly magical, Alice Hoffman has a way of writing that is always captivating. There is a reason she has stood the test of time.

I have read one other of Alice Hoffman books and this is the only time I prefer the movie over a book. I wanted to see if a
It was just that book so I tried this one. I honestly don't think her writing style is for me unfortunately. I love the story and the idea but can stay connected to the book.

This was not my favorite Alice Hoffman book. It is not as good as her other ones in the series, in my opinion. I doubt I would recommend it over her other ones. If I had not read anything else by the author, I would say that this was good book.

Alice Hoffman can do literally no wrong and I am absolutely devastated the Practical Magic series has concluded, but wow did it do so in such a perfect way! 10/10 recommend!

Though not the genre of books I normally read, this series is definitely a favorite. The story is told in such a way that the reader becomes thoroughly engaged and can't read quickly enough to find out what will become to the Owens women in regards to the curse that has plagued their family for centuries.
It is sad that there will be no new books in this series but I will always think back fondly to these characters that I have come to know so well.

“Read as many books as you can. Choose courage over caution. Take time to visit libraries. Look for light in the darkness. Have faith in yourself. Know that love is what matters most.”

Alice Hoffman really wrote this for the fans - this tied together all the other books in the series and let us see all the characters we've grown to love. She closed the open doors, and tied up the ends.
While some of the other books in the practical magic series can be read as standalones, this one really is one that requires the rest of the books and it should def be read last.

As with all the others, Alice has made a family and magic structure that feels like home. I love her writing, it's so easy and fast-paced, and she never fails to make me cry. This one was certainly an emotional roller coaster.

Overall, I enjoyed it and was happy to have one more book to hold on to before the series ended, but I would only recommend it to those who are invested in the series.

“Time is out there. Everything that ever happened is still happening. For instance, if I took your hand in mine.” Which he did as he was speaking. “It would be happening for hundreds of years.”

"Some stories begin at the beginning and others begin at the end".#Alice Hoffman's writing is a joy to read. #The Book Of Magic is the conclusion to the #Practical Magic series. I honestly rarely have to buy books. But when the Publishing company Simon & Schuster gave me this advance copy I bought the rest.
For over three-hundred years a curse has kept the Owen's family from love. The story begins in the library when Jet Owen's hears the death watch beetle. She has only 7 days to live.....
Thank you for the advance copy,
#Netgalley, #Alice Hoffman, and #Simon & Schuster 💜🐾🐾

DNF - Did not finish. I did not connect with the writing style or plot and will not be finishing this title. Thank you, NetGalley and Publisher for the early copy!

Was so excited to finally read this book. It was a bit slow at times, but the set up and story are worth hanging around. Loved all the books in the series, looking forward to what else the author has in store.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a review copy of ‘The Book of Magic’ by Alice Hoffman. Thoughts and opinions are my own.

I am a fan of this series and have read all of the previous books. That being said, this was my least favorite. The first time I tried to read it, I ended up putting it down early on in the story and not picking it back up again for a while. I struggled in the beginning because all these characters I’d read about from the previous book started this book miserable and dying. I know it wouldn’t be a book without conflict and having the characters have space to grow, but it was just such a jarring way to begin the book that made me not want to continue. Eventually I did come back and read the whole thing but I definitely struggled at times.

The journey the characters take was rather meandering and boring at times. I kept forgetting who a lot of the side characters were even though I’ve read all the previous books. A lot of reviews have pointed out inconsistent elements with previous book details. I hope this is the last installment to the series as I don’t think this book did the series any favors.

A big element of this series is all the listings and sorts of recipes for the practical magic. Until this book, I’d never been compelled to actually look up if those herbs were good for what ailments were described. But this book was very jarring in that multiple times a tonic to help with conceiving is listed with ingredients that have the opposite effect. This seems really irresponsible on the part of the author. It also threw all the previous cures and recipes into question for me as a reader.

The creepy Tom character really unsettled me. I don’t enjoy stories where I’m just bracing myself for a when a character is going to be assaulted. I don’t like to read those particular triggers in books so I really hated his interactions with Kylie even though I don’t think that’s what ended up happening. I know he’s not supposed to be a good guy obviously and he definitely came across as a villain I just wish he hadn’t been included at all.

I think some storylines wrapped up in an ok way, but overall I wish most of this book had been handled differently. I do think a book addressing the Owens’ family curse made sense, I just didn’t really enjoy a lot of the book and can see how it could have been better with more attention to detail and more editing.

3/5 stars